New York Times : "Beaner-hopping" had been going for at least 7 years in Long Island, New York - The mob that lynched Marcelo Lucero on November 2008 - Students caught in two worlds
The New York Times
In Hate-Crime Case, a Teenager Finds Himself Caught in 2 Worlds
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
April 4, 2010
In Hate-Crime Case, a Teenager Finds Himself Caught in 2 Worlds
Some excerpts :
Mr. Conroy, now 19, faces several charges in connection with Mr. Lucero’s stabbing and attempted attacks on three other Hispanic men, including second-degree murder as a hate crime and gang assault. In recent days, the prosecution has been calling witnesses to testify in the trial, which is being heard by 12 jurors and 4 alternates in Justice Robert W. Doyle’s courtroom.
Prosecutors have said Mr. Conroy and six other Patchogue-Medford High School students attacked Mr. Lucero and a friend shortly before midnight on Nov. 8, 2008, part of a series of assaults singling out Hispanic men.
A Suffolk County police officer who patted down Mr. Conroy that night and found a knife on him testified that Mr. Conroy told him, “I stabbed him.”
Bloodstains on the blade of the knife matched Mr. Lucero’s DNA.
The Rev. Allan B. Ramirez, the Ecuadorean pastor of Brookville Reformed Church and an immigrant advocate helping the Lucero family, said the fact that Mr. Conroy had an Ecuadorean friend illustrated the complexities of the racial dynamics in this case, but did not change his opinion about Mr. Conroy’s guilt.
“There are a lot of racist people out there who live quote-unquote everyday, normal lives,” he said. “They’re not going to walk around saying 24 hours a day, ‘I’m a racist.’ The fact that he had an Ecuadorean friend could be seen simply as a way of hiding his hatred for Latinos. What better way to hide his racism.”
The authorities said the seven teenagers hunted for Hispanic men to attack, as part of an activity they referred to as “beaner-hopping,” a practice that incited outrage and helped thrust Mr. Lucero’s stabbing into the spotlight.
If the seven defendants went “beaner-hopping” that night, as prosecutors allege, they were not the first to do so, and they invented neither the term nor the crime. Mr. Garcia and other former students at the high school said they had heard of students boasting of going “beaner-hopping” for years before November 2008. “I’ve heard that word since fifth grade,” said Mr. Garcia, who added that he never heard Mr. Conroy use it.
Though he has occasionally spoken to others of their friendship, he has largely kept his connection to Mr. Conroy to himself and has not attended the trial, as several other of Mr. Conroy’s young friends have. “I’m just trying to stay away from everything,” Mr. Garcia said.
Mr. Garcia graduated from the high school and now works two jobs: he washes dishes at a restaurant and does maintenance at a church. He said he was trying to save money to go to Suffolk County Community College.
One recent afternoon, Mr. Garcia walked through the parking lot, to the long driveway where Mr. Lucero was found by the police that night. Wrapped around the top of the chain-link fence at the entrance of the driveway was a rosary with a small plastic cross on it.
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Prosecutors have said Mr. Conroy and six other Patchogue-Medford High School students attacked Mr. Lucero and a friend shortly before midnight on Nov. 8, 2008, part of a series of assaults singling out Hispanic men.
A Suffolk County police officer who patted down Mr. Conroy that night and found a knife on him testified that Mr. Conroy told him, “I stabbed him.”
Bloodstains on the blade of the knife matched Mr. Lucero’s DNA.
The Rev. Allan B. Ramirez, the Ecuadorean pastor of Brookville Reformed Church and an immigrant advocate helping the Lucero family, said the fact that Mr. Conroy had an Ecuadorean friend illustrated the complexities of the racial dynamics in this case, but did not change his opinion about Mr. Conroy’s guilt.
“There are a lot of racist people out there who live quote-unquote everyday, normal lives,” he said. “They’re not going to walk around saying 24 hours a day, ‘I’m a racist.’ The fact that he had an Ecuadorean friend could be seen simply as a way of hiding his hatred for Latinos. What better way to hide his racism.”
The authorities said the seven teenagers hunted for Hispanic men to attack, as part of an activity they referred to as “beaner-hopping,” a practice that incited outrage and helped thrust Mr. Lucero’s stabbing into the spotlight.
If the seven defendants went “beaner-hopping” that night, as prosecutors allege, they were not the first to do so, and they invented neither the term nor the crime. Mr. Garcia and other former students at the high school said they had heard of students boasting of going “beaner-hopping” for years before November 2008. “I’ve heard that word since fifth grade,” said Mr. Garcia, who added that he never heard Mr. Conroy use it.
Though he has occasionally spoken to others of their friendship, he has largely kept his connection to Mr. Conroy to himself and has not attended the trial, as several other of Mr. Conroy’s young friends have. “I’m just trying to stay away from everything,” Mr. Garcia said.
Mr. Garcia graduated from the high school and now works two jobs: he washes dishes at a restaurant and does maintenance at a church. He said he was trying to save money to go to Suffolk County Community College.
One recent afternoon, Mr. Garcia walked through the parking lot, to the long driveway where Mr. Lucero was found by the police that night. Wrapped around the top of the chain-link fence at the entrance of the driveway was a rosary with a small plastic cross on it.
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